Gravity
by cutflowers
Summary: This is a crossover with Emily's episode of Touched by an Angel. It's exactly as bad as it sounds. Lilly/Miley.
1. Stowaways

**Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. It's been a while. But in my defense, June did not exist this year, so it hasn't really been as long as you might think.**

**So we've all seen Emily's episode of **_**Touched by an Angel**_**, right? Don't worry if you haven't, I really just ripped off the idea of her family being in Witness Protection. That and the family structure itself (older sister, parents still married). There, you're all caught up.**

**Warning: HAHAHA YEAH. This fic is completely ridiculous and a waste of time. Your life will be better if you choose not to read it.**

**Disclaimer: Even my three-year-old niece knows that people writing fic don't own the original properties. Do we really need these things?**

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The Shepherd family spent six months in Scottsdale. Then there was a scare: someone suspicious hanging around who the Marshals thought might have ties to Deane, and they were relocated to Malibu. New names, new history, new everything. Again.

Five months after that, they found out it had been a false alarm. But by then they were settled in Malibu: Katie – Melanie – _Samantha_ liked her school, Antonia – _Lilly_ had made friends with a little boy in her class. And _Heather_ had given birth. They wanted at least one member of their family to have a name they were born with. So they stayed.

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The black SVU followed the two girls on the sidewalk, keeping a couple careful car-lengths behind them. School had just let out and kids were streaming down the street in both directions. The driver had to stop several times as teenagers darted across the street in front of the car.

"So it's your turn for movies and my turn for snacks," Miley said brightly, obliviously. "I totally can't wait for tonight, it's been _forever_ since we've had movie night."

"Uh-huh," Lilly said. She glanced back over her shoulder at the SVU. The windows were tinted and the driver was wearing sunglasses, his face impassive. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Why hadn't it passed them yet?

"Lilly?" Miley asked. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Lilly said. It was probably nothing. It had been eight years. "Can we...let's just walk faster, okay?"

She picked up her pace again when she and Miley split up inside the neighborhood and the SVU was still behind her. Farther back now, but still there. It's just your imagination, she told herself. Maybe the driver was lost, or checking addresses or something.

Her house was right down the street, and Lilly was sufficiently spooked that she wanted to run for it, but she forced herself to stop instead, to test her theory. If it wasn't them, the car would go past her. If it was them...she didn't want them to know where she lived.

She got her cell phone out and put it to her ear, pretending to talk to someone and walking around in a little circle on the sidewalk that let her keep an eye on the SVU. Every time she had to turn her back on it her muscles tensed up. If it was them, they might grab her or shoot her or worse. But she wasn't going to be responsible for leading them to her family.

The car had stopped when she did. After a minute, the driver floored the gas and the car roared past her, tires squealing as it turned the corner at the end of the street.

Lilly ran for her house.

Her heart was hammering in her chest when she slammed the front door behind her. What she found in the kitchen didn't help any. Both her parents were there, sitting at the table. Next to them was Karen Phillips, the U.S. Marshal who had taken over their case when Tess left.

"Lilly," her mother said delicately, like she was getting ready to break bad news.

Lilly felt like she was going to pass out or throw up. Or both. "So you know already? Or was it you?" she said.

Karen raised an eyebrow. "Know what?"

"I think someone was following me home from school. A black SVU."

Karen swore under her breath and yanked a cell phone from her belt. "That wasn't us," she said, hitting a button on the phone, and then she started barking orders into it.

Lilly parents both got up and came to hug her. Lilly trembled in their arms. It hadn't been her imagination. "Why now?" she asked her dad. "After all this time?"

"Karen came to tell us there's going to be a new trial," her mother answered. "They want your father to testify. We didn't know they'd found us."

"Where's Ian?" Lilly asked.

"Upstairs in his room," her dad said. "I picked him up from school before Karen came to see us. We didn't think he needed to hear any of this." Lilly's brother was seven. Almost the same age Lilly had been when they'd gone into the program. He didn't even know about it. They hadn't told him yet.

"Have you talked to Sam?" Lilly asked. Her sister was in grad school upstate.

"Oh, god, Samantha," her mother said, moving towards the phone. "If they've found us..."

Karen snapped her phone shut. "We're moving you to a safe house tonight, you'll be relocated tomorrow. Sam will meet us at the new location. Don't worry, the Marshals are on their way to get her now, she'll be taken to another safe house. Your ride will be here in ten minutes, we need to be ready to move."

Heather put the phone down. Eric tightened his arms around Lilly. Ten minutes? They couldn't just leave, not like that. She couldn't just disappear.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Lilly said faintly. Her knees wobbled but her voice didn't.

"Be quick," Karen ordered, then addressed Lilly's parents. "We need to go upstairs and explain things to Ian. And pack, one suitcase each. You know the drill."

Lilly ran down the hall to the bathroom. She still had her cell phone clutched in her hand. She locked the door, then turned on the tap and snatched up the bar of hand soap, using it to write _BRB -L _on the mirror. Unlocking the window, she slid it open, kicked the screen out, and climbed outside, cell phone in her teeth.

She took the back way, running through people's yards and around their swimming pools, dialing Oliver as she ran. "Oliver," she said urgently when he picked up. "I need you to meet me at Miley's house right now."

"Okay," Oliver said, sounding confused. "I can be there in five. But I thought you guys were doing Miley-Lilly movie night?"

"Just get there," Lilly snapped. "Now." She hung up and dropped the phone on the ground. She'd have to leave it behind anyway, and hopefully she'd be back before her parents and Karen noticed she was gone.

She bolted through the back door of the Stewarts' house at a dead run. "Lilly," Mr. Stewart said from the living room, looking a bit surprised she hadn't come in the front. "It's good to see..."

Lilly didn't even acknowledge him. There wasn't time for that. She barreled up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and his voice trailed off into confusion behind her.

Miley was in her room. "Hey, you're early," she said, pleased to see Lilly nonetheless. Lilly shut the door and doubled over, sucking in air. She was in good shape, but she'd never run so far so fast before. "Okay, where's the fire?" Miley teased.

"Miley," Lilly gasped out, straightening. "I need you to sit down."

Miley did, slowly, on the bed. "Lilly, what's going on?" She let out a nervous little chuckle. "You're kinda scarin' me."

"Miley, I know we said we weren't going to keep secrets from each other," Lilly said. "I know you're going to be angry, but you have to understand that I couldn't tell you. I wasn't allowed."

"Oh-kay," Miley drawled. Her brows drew together. "What the heck are you talking about?"

She'd wanted Oliver to be here, too, so she could tell them both at once. But there wasn't time to wait. At least this way one of them would know. "My name isn't really Lilly Truscott. It's Alyssa Sullivan. Me and my family are in the Witness Protection Program."

Miley blinked once, twice. "What?"

Lilly sighed. "Eight years ago, my father witnessed a murder. He testified against the guy that did it, and we had to enter the program because he sent people after us."

Miley blinked again, then started laughing. "This is a joke, right? I'll admit you had me worried for a minute, Lilly, I thought something was really wrong! Don't do that to me, okay? April Fool's isn't even for another month."

"It's not a joke!" Lilly yelled, and Miley stopped laughing. "I don't have time for you to not believe me. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I couldn't. The only reason I'm telling you now is that they've found us again and we have to leave. We're leaving right now, I'm not even supposed to be here. I snuck out."

"You're leaving?" Miley asked dumbly. "Where are you going?"

"I don't know," Lilly said. "They won't tell us until we're on the plane."

"When...when will you be back?"

Lilly looked down at the floor and clenched her hands into fists. Her fingernails dug into her palms. "We can't come back."

"Lilly, are you...," Miley said shakily. "Are you serious? Because if this is a joke, it stopped being funny two minutes ago."

Lilly met her eyes. "It's not a joke. We're leaving in a few minutes. For good."

Miley's eyes brimmed over with tears. Two of them rolled down her cheeks, quickly followed by more. "No."

"I'm sorry," Lilly said. She took a step closer to the bed, reaching out a hand. Miley grabbed her wrist and pulled, hard, sending Lilly sprawling forward across her lap. Miley moved and before Lilly knew what was happening she was sitting on the bed between Miley's legs, Miley's arms wrapped tight around her waist from behind.

"You can't leave," Miley said into her hair. "You can't."

Lilly's head dropped forward. She laid her arms over Miley's, elbows to fingers. "I have to. I'm sorry. I wish I didn't."

The door swung open to reveal Oliver, sweaty and red-faced. "Okay, Lilly, this better be..." He sucked in a couple breaths, staring at them. Lilly could tell he wanted to make a joke about their odd position, but the looks on their faces stopped him. "What is it?" he said instead.

Lilly explained in terse sentences. Oliver had the same reaction as Miley: he laughed.

"No way," he said. "I've known you since you were seven."

"I've been in the program since I was six," Lilly said.

"She's leaving," Miley said.

"What?" Oliver said.

"The people who are after us found us," Lilly said. "We're being relocated, and they're not going to let us come back."

"When?" Oliver asked. All of the color had gone out of his face now. He looked like he'd seen a ghost. And he sort of had, because she was about to become one.

"Now," Lilly said. Miley's arms squeezed her harder.

"But...you'll be able to call us, right? Email? They've got to let us see you sometime," Oliver said.

Lilly rubbed her fingers against the back of Miley's hand. "We can't..." She cleared her throat. "We aren't allowed to have contact with anyone we used to know."

Oliver walked over and plucked at Miley's arms. "Let go," he said harshly. "Let her get up."

Miley wouldn't let go, but Lilly stood up anyway, pulling Miley up with her. Oliver put his arms around both of them and they stood there, Oliver hugging her from the front, Miley hugging her from behind, all of them crying, until Mr. Stewart yelled up the stairs five minutes later.

"Lilly, your parents are here!"

Oliver released her, trying to smile, and Lilly gave him a blurry smile back. "I guess this is it." She tried to take a step towards the door, but Miley was still attached to her back. "Miley, I can't walk like this."

"Good," Miley said stoutly. Lilly had to pry her arms free, and even then Miley didn't let her go completely, her hands fisted in Lilly's shirt at her hips. They made a train going down the stairs: Lilly, Miley, Oliver bringing up the rear.

Her parents and Karen were at the front door. None of them looked very happy. "What were you thinking, Lilly?" her mother hissed. "You could have gotten yourself killed!"

Lilly heard Miley make a strangled noise in her throat at that, and Oliver put a hand on her shoulder. "I couldn't just leave!" she said.

"We need to get out of here," Karen said. "We still haven't located whoever was tailing you."

"What in the Sam Hill is going on here?" Robby Ray asked. No one paid him any attention.

"Let's go, Lilly," her father said.

Oliver gently pulled Miley away from her and Lilly went to her parents. She looked back at them as they went out the front door. "Bye," she said. There was so much more she wanted to say to them, but there wasn't time, and she didn't know how. They already knew, anyway. Most of it.

There was a van on the street, dark blue with tinted windows; they headed for it. Ian was sitting in the middle seat. He looked scared, and confused, and Lilly wished there were something she could do to make him feel better. He probably didn't even understand what was happening. She hadn't the first time. Not really.

She climbed all the way into the back. Her dad sat next to her, and her mom sat next to Ian. Karen was up front with the other agent who was driving.

The engine purred to life. "No!" Lilly heard behind her, and turned to see Miley running from the house towards the van. "Lilly, you can't leave!"

Oliver ran after her and scooped her up with arms around her waist. She kicked at his shins with her heels and pounded on his arms to make him drop her. "Lilly!" Tears were streaming down her face again and Lilly felt answering tears well up in her own eyes.

Miley broke Oliver's hold and started to run for the van again, but he grabbed onto her shirt with one hand. "Mr. Stewart!" he yelled. "Help!" Robby Ray came out and they each took one of her arms, holding her back.

"Lilly, wait, come back!" Miley screamed.

The van pulled away from the curb and Lilly's father put an arm around her shoulders. "It will be all right," he murmured. "Just like last time. As long as we're together."

It wasn't like last time, because last time she'd been six, her family had been everything to her, everyone, but Lilly nodded anyway and buried her face against his shoulder, didn't look back at the people she was leaving behind.

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**Yeah, I really don't want to spend that much time on this. It'll be two more short-ish chapters, next one up tomorrow night, last one on Monday.**


	2. Exhale & Breathe

**You guys are seriously way too nice. Seriously. But thank you for your comments.**

**JennaW: Yeah, don't get your hopes up about a plot. This story really doesn't have one.**

**Stupid-Lollies: I meant Emily Osment. She was like, idk, six or seven in it. Tiny and very adorable. The episode itself was crap, though. They pretty much all were.**

**mileymadness: Yes, they worked, so this stupid story is **_**your**_** fault. I take no responsibility for it.**

**Lady Tru: I didn't delete it, but I'm sure the download link has expired by now. I'd say I'd re-upload it, but my computer died and reassembling all the tracks seems like it would be hard. Because I'm lazy.**

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**One Week Later**

"Miley Ray Stewart, you have got to get outta that bed." Her dad's voice was slightly muffled due to the number of blankets she had pulled over her, but his stern, I-mean-business tone came through loud and clear.

Miley held her breath and didn't move. She wanted to snag one of the pillows and pull it under the covers and over her head, but she thought her best bet was to pretend to be asleep. It was hot under the covers, she was coated with sweat, and it smelled. She smelled. She hadn't taken a shower for a week. But she didn't care. She was going to wait him out. There was no way she was up to doing a concert tonight. Not without Lilly there.

"Miley Ray," her dad said again, impatiently. Miley kept still. "Now I have had just about enough of this," Robby Ray said. He sat down on the bed. "I know you're hurting, darlin'. We're all upset about Lilly. I think I've been pretty understanding. But it's been a week now, and you've got to face the fact that you can't spend the rest of your life in bed."

Miley didn't say anything. She breathed out through her nose soundlessly.

"Do you want me to call Oliver? I'm sure he'd be happy to come over and talk with you. He's been by every day this week wanting to see you. He's taking it pretty hard himself, you know."

She didn't want to see Oliver. She didn't want to see anyone except Lilly.

Her dad switched back from coaxing to stern. "All right, Miley, you've got five minutes before I dump ice water on you and haul you out by your ankles. Miley might be able to miss out on a week of her life, but Hannah can't. You made a commitment to perform tonight and you're going to do it."

Miley went even stiller than before, but not in an attempt to fake sleep or from fear at his threat. She was thinking about what he'd said. Miley could but Hannah couldn't. Miley could do some things that Hannah couldn't. Just like _Hannah_ could do some things _Miley_ couldn't. Like talk to Lilly.

She sprang up so suddenly that Robby Ray almost fell off the bed in surprise. "Daddy, you're a genius!" she exclaimed, throwing herself at him and hugging him tightly.

"It's good to see your face, bud," he said. "You mind telling me why I'm a genius?"

"No reason," Miley said. She ran over to her desk and opened her laptop, hitting the power button and tapping her fingers on the back of the desk chair while it booted up. "Daddy, I've gotta get ready, do you mind?"

"All right," he said, moving to the door. "Just don't get back in that bed. We've got to get going in about an hour."

"I won't," Miley promised. She watched the laptop screen avidly, lightheaded from excitement and the fact that she hadn't done so well with eating the past week. Or sleeping. Or anything, really.

As soon as her dad went out and shut the door, Miley took the laptop and sat on the bed with it. That didn't really count, though, because she wasn't back _in_ the bed, not like she had been for the past week. She got online and connected to the Hannah email account. There were hundreds of new messages. Miley scrolled through them quickly, skimming over the standard subject lines that told her how Hannah totally rocked. She was sure Lilly would have thought of this.

There it was. The fourth page in, sent three days ago, subject line:_ is it true you eat possum?_ Miley let out a half-laugh, half-gasp. That _had_ to be Lilly. Her hand shook as she clicked on it.

_Hi Hannah!!!_

_Omg I am totally your #1 fan!! You are awesome!!! My name is Chloe Logan, and it's totally my dream see you in concert one day and maybe even meet you! Do you think you're going on tour anytime soon? I get really excited every time you do, because I really want to see you!!_

_Actually, right now I'm kind of sad, because me and my family just had to move. Our new house is okay and everything, but I had to leave all my friends behind and I really miss them a lot. Especially my best friend._

_Anyway, my subject line is kind of about that, because one of my friends back home said there was this rumor that you eat possum. But I told him that was crazy, and there was no way it was true. He bet me $20 that it was, so I'm hoping you can settle the bet for us. If you want to know the truth, I think he made up the rumor himself. He's kind of a donut._

_I guess I better go now. My dad has dinner ready. I hope you write back, because writing to you is making me feel a little better about missing my friends._

_Love,_

_Chloe_

Miley blew out a breath and reread the email several times. It was definitely Lilly. The whole third paragraph proved that. But why was she bothering to talk in code instead of just saying things straight out? Miley chewed on her thumbnail, thinking. Maybe she was worried the Marshals were screening her mail.

Whatever the reason, she'd better play along. Miley took a minute to figure out what she was going to say, then started typing.

_Hey Chloe,_

_It was great to get your email. I'm glad you like my music so much!_

_You can tell your friend that I definitely DO NOT eat possum. I never have and I never will, so congratulations, I guess you just won $20! Thanks for sticking up for me. Your friend sounds kind of like one of my friends, Mike. He's totally a donut, too!_

_I'm sorry you're having such a hard time with your move. I know how much it can suck. My best friend in the world, Lola, recently had to move and I miss her like crazy. In fact, I've been missing her so much that it's been hard for me to get stuff done, which is why it's taken me so long to write back. Sorry! I know she knows how much I love her, but that's not the same as being able to see her and tell her that all the time, you know? I'm sure your friends are missing you just as much as you miss them._

_As for touring, you might be in luck. I was thinking of doing a mini-tour soon. Where do you live? Maybe I'll be playing somewhere close by. If you make it to a concert, you'll definitely have to come backstage after and meet me, okay? That should help you take your mind off missing your friends!_

_I've got a concert in an hour, so I need to go get ready. I'll dedicate one of my songs to you tonight, how does that sound? It's been nice talking to you, and I hope I hear from you again!_

_Love,_

_Hannah_

Her dad knocked on her door just as she finished typing Hannah's name. "How's it coming in there, Mile?" he called.

Miley hurriedly hit send and slammed the laptop shut. "Great, daddy! I'm just gonna hop in the shower real quick." She jumped up and opened the door, grinning at him.

"You're gonna have to be fast," he said. "We have to leave soon."

"Ten minutes, daddy, I promise," Miley told him, starting down the hall for the bathroom.

"I'm real proud of you for doing this, bud," he said. "I know Lilly would be, too."

Miley hardly heard him. She was too busy wondering if Lilly would write back by the time the concert was over.

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It took two weeks to set everything up, which was fine, because spring break was in three. Chloe wrote back to ask if Hannah had ever performed in Iowa before, and didn't she think Des Moines would be a nice place to have a concert? Hannah agreed that it would, stating that so far she'd displayed a horrible lack of attention to the middle states, which would have to be fixed immediately.

They talked about other things, too. Lilly told her about her new school, how hard it was to start at the end of the year, how lonely it was because all the other kids already had their cliques, and anyway she still missed her friends too much to make new ones. How worried she was because her dad had this big presentation coming up at work, and it was really important that it went well, or he might be out of a job.

Miley translated school stories into the Hannah world, and updated Lilly on Hannah's friend Mike, and talked a lot about how much she missed Lola.

It helped some, being able to email back and forth. But she hated having to talk in code, having to be so careful. She had a calendar in one of her school notebooks and she started marking off the days until Des Moines. She wouldn't let herself think about what would happen after that. After all, how often could Hannah play Iowa? How often could Lilly go to Hannah concerts?

But they'd deal with that later. They'd work something out when they saw each other. They had to; she missed Lilly too much to allow for anything else. In a way, it was even worse than when she'd lost her mother, because she knew that Lilly was still alive, that she was out there somewhere, and Miley just couldn't get to her.

The Spring Break Tour was going to be three shows: Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Des Moines. The others were camouflage. Her dad wasn't so sure it was a good idea at first, but she told him she needed to spend some time away from Malibu, doing something that would help keep her mind off things, and he came around.

The hard part was figuring out how to get him not to go. Roxy she could work around; her dad hanging backstage would be a much more serious problem. She gave Jackson $100 to mope around the house and complain about how he needed another father-son fishing/bonding trip, and an extra hundred for him not to ask questions.

She thought he knew anyway, though, because when she gave him the money he just looked at her and said, "I hope you know what you're doing."

She didn't, really. But she knew she had to see Lilly again.

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**Wells Fargo Arena – Des Moines, Iowa**

They kept trying to cheer her on into more encores. She'd done three already and they still kept screaming their heads off. Under any other circumstances, she would have gone for four, but right now Miley was kind of pissed she'd had to do three. Lilly might be backstage waiting for her.

She yelled good night to the audience and thanked them for coming, ignoring their disappointed shouts as she ran from the stage. She made herself slow down in the hallway, checking to see if Roxy was around. Miley didn't see her. During one of her breaks earlier, she'd told Roxy that a guy in the fourth row kept looking at her funny. Roxy had run off before she'd even finished talking and probably still had the guy in a headlock. Good.

The venue had provided additional security, and one of the guards was posted outside her dressing room. Right before she'd gone onstage, Miley had given him Chloe's name, and told him to let her in, and that if Chloe was in there he shouldn't let anyone else but Hannah in. And she'd had him spread the word over his headset that Chloe was cleared to come backstage. Now she just had to hope that nothing had gone wrong, that Lilly would be there.

The guard, a big, burly man who looked like he could twist Miley into a pretzel without breaking a sweat, smiled and nodded at her a little as she got close, and Miley felt her pace pick up. Did that mean Lilly was inside?

She was almost running again as she went through the door. Her first, wild glance took in the vanity, the rack holding her outfit changes, the table of snacks. Lilly wasn't there.

Miley slammed the door shut. She wasn't –

"Miley."

Miley whirled around. And there was Lilly. She was getting up from the couch that was pushed up against the front wall. She looked exactly the same. Miley wasn't sure why she'd been expecting otherwise; it had only been a month. But it seemed like longer. It seemed like a lot longer.

"Lilly!" She wanted to jump up and down, she wanted to hug Lilly until she choked, she wanted to...kiss her senseless? Where the heck had that come from?

Let's go with the hug, Miley thought, and did.

"Miley," Lilly said, sounding like she was about two seconds away from actually choking. Miley hugged her harder. "I missed you, too," Lilly whispered in her ear, and Miley pulled back enough that she could see Lilly's face, her eyes watery with unshed tears. Miley couldn't tell if they were happy or sad ones. Probably both, if she was feeling anything like Miley was.

They sat on the couch with their arms around each other, legs pressed together from hips to ankles, and Miley listened while Lilly told her everything about the move and her new house and the trial. Her dad was leaving to testify in a week and the Marshals still hadn't stopped hanging around because they didn't know how Deane's men had found Lilly's family the first time and they were worried it would happen again. Even if his men didn't find them, there was a good chance they'd be waiting to try and get to Lilly's father at the trial and Lilly was worried sick about what would happen.

Miley listened, she really did, and she knew she was making some kind of response every time Lilly paused, but all she could really think about was how much of a relief it was to have Lilly there. She felt like she was awake, _alive_, for the first time since Lilly had left. They were sitting practically in each other's laps, and Miley had to fight not to make that a reality. She wanted to crawl into Lilly's lap, to get as close to her as she possibly could and then never move again. The urge to touch Lilly, to make sure she was really there, was overwhelming. Miley's hands kept trying to move from their spot around Lilly's waist and roam over every inch of her body. Miley had to lock them together to keep them in place.

"Mom wants to go with him to the trial," Lilly was saying. "But Dad won't let her. Neither will the Marshals. I...I'm kind of glad she's not going. I mean, if something happens to him..."

"Nothing's going to happen, Lilly. The Marshals will be watching him. They won't let anything happen."

"I know. But it's still scary." Lilly leaned her head against Miley's and laughed without humor. "This whole thing is scary. It's like we're in lockdown. Sam's pissed because she got yanked out of school while she was writing a paper that was going to be published. She keeps trying to get the Marshals to let her send parts of it back to her advisor, but they won't let her. I was lucky they let me email Hannah. You don't know how hard it was to get here tonight."

"I'm sorry," Miley said, hugging her closer even though that wasn't really possible. She turned her head, nose brushing the skin just under Lilly's ear. What were they going to do? How would they ever be able to see each other again? They had to think of something. Miley wouldn't let them take Lilly from her, not this time.

"Lilly," she said softly, her breath warm in the small space between her mouth and Lilly's neck. Lilly shivered and Miley wanted to make that space disappear, to put her lips to Lilly's neck and taste her skin, feel her pulse jump under Miley's tongue. She didn't care if that didn't make sense, if she didn't understand it. She wanted it, needed it, and she wasn't going to waste time questioning why.

Miley tilted her head to close the distance, felt Lilly tilt hers to better let her, and that was when the Marshal burst through the door, badge in hand, and found them.

"I told you, you can't go in there," the security guard said, grabbing at the woman's shoulder. Miley and Lilly sprang to opposite ends of the couch and froze.

"And I told you, I'm a federal – " The Marshal took one look at the two of them and her mouth snapped shut, anger clouding her features. She knocked the guard's hand off her shoulder and glared at Miley and Lilly. "You have got to be fucking kidding me," she said.

———————————————

It turned out that a blonde wig and a one-of-a-kind designer rockstar outfit didn't really cut it as a disguise when U.S. Marshals were involved.

Half an hour later, Miley was sitting in a small, windowless room in the Marshals' offices. The walls were a bland cream color and the only furniture was the dark wooden table in the middle of the room and two chairs, one on each side of it. Miley had been sitting in one of them, alone, since Karen put her in here ten minutes ago. She didn't know where Lilly was, though she'd overheard Karen on the phone in the car ordering the rest of Lilly's family brought to the offices until they could figure out where else to take them, so she thought Lilly might be here somewhere.

Roxy had tried to stop the Marshal from taking Miley at first. Then she'd seen Lilly, and Karen's badge, and after that she'd given Miley a disappointed look and just insisted on coming with them.

The door slammed open so hard it hit the wall and bounced back halfway shut. Miley jumped nervously, then told herself that the Marshal had probably done that for theatrical effect. Karen just wanted to scare her so that she'd confess everything. Not that Miley really had anything left to confess. Karen had even made her take the Hannah wig off before they left the concert so they'd attract less attention. She'd watched Lilly help Miley take it off, so there wasn't even anything left of the Hannah secret to tell.

And the barely constrained rage on Karen's face didn't seem theatrical at all. But Miley couldn't be in that much trouble, could she? Because if she was, Roxy wouldn't let them talk to her by herself. There were, like, laws against that, weren't there? Miley tried to remember everything she'd picked up from watching Law & Order reruns, but then Karen sent the door slamming all the way shut and Miley had to concentrate on ducking the laser-beam glare Karen was leveling at her.

The Marshal stalked over to the table and yanked out the chair opposite Miley. She didn't sit in it. Instead she planted both palms on the table and leaned over it, towering above Miley, who gulped and shrank a little in her seat. Even if it was theatrical, it was working.

"You want to tell me what the hell you were thinking?" Karen growled.

Miley forced herself to meet the woman's eyes. She hadn't done anything wrong. They were the ones who had ripped Lilly away from her life. "I just wanted to see my best friend."

"Your best friend is in the Witness Protection Program. For good reason."

"I know that," Miley snapped. "I'm not stupid. Why do you think I came as Hannah?"

"You think your silly little disguise is going to fool anyone who's serious about finding Chloe's father?" Miley hadn't been thinking anything but _Lilly Lilly Lilly_ since she'd seen her, so it took her a few seconds to figure out who Chloe was. Her chest tightened when she did. She didn't want to hear this woman calling Lilly by some other name. "I saw you twice for a total of twenty seconds and I figured it out! How effective do you think it'll be against someone willing to watch you every second to see if you lead them to Chloe and her family?"

"No one was watching me," Miley said, defiant. She was starting to hate this woman. "I would have noticed."

"I don't think you realize how serious this situation is. Let me make it perfectly clear to you." Miley opened her mouth to protest but Karen held up a hand. She sat down in the chair and pinned Miley with her eyes, all of the anger gone, replaced with a deadly seriousness that Miley wanted to look away from but couldn't.

"I am not your enemy. I'm trying to keep Chloe safe. You could have gotten her killed." Karen paused to let that sink in. "You could have gotten her _entire family_ killed. Do you understand me?"

Miley jerked her chin down. She understood. Lilly could be dead right now. She could have gotten Lilly _killed_. She'd known it was dangerous, Heather had said as much before they left and all of Lilly's emails had bled worry and fear for her family, but Miley hadn't cared about the danger because all she'd thought about was how much it hurt to have Lilly gone. But she could've gotten Lilly killed, and it wasn't worse, having Lilly alive and out of reach, it wasn't worse at all. Lilly dead was worse, and it would have been her fault.

The silence in the room grew with her guilt until it felt like a physical thing, until it was pushing down on her, bowing her head and shoulders as she tried to curl in, away from the knowledge of what she'd done, how selfish she had been.

Karen spoke again, finally, just when Miley thought she might break down if she had to bear the quiet a moment longer. "I spoke with your father," Karen said. "You and your bodyguard are taking the next flight out. He's going to meet you at the airport." Miley nodded, past caring what her dad would do when he got hold of her. She could have gotten Lilly killed. She deserved any punishment he could come up with and more.

"Chloe and her family are being relocated and you are not, under any circumstances, to try to contact her again. If you do, you _will_ be arrested. Am I making myself clear?"

"I won't," Miley said softly. "I promise."

"Good." Karen stood. "You leave in an hour. I'll send Roxy in to keep you company."

The Marshal was almost at the door when Miley cleared her throat and called out. "Wait."

Karen turned and raised an eyebrow.

"Can I see Lilly?"

"That's not a good idea."

"Please," Miley begged. "I...I need to say goodbye."

Karen nodded slowly. "All right. But only for a minute."

"Thank you."

The door closed behind Karen and Miley stared dumbly at the table. She didn't look up when it opened again, even though she knew it was Lilly. She couldn't face her, not after what she'd done.

"Ten minutes," Karen said, and shut the door.

"I'm sorry," Miley said, eyes still on the table.

"It's not your fault. I'm the one who sent you that email."

Miley shook her head. "I shouldn't have answered. I should have thought, I should have...I should have let you go."

"I didn't want you to."

Miley looked up finally, watched Lilly cross the room and perch on the edge of the table in front of her. She leaned forward on the chair, wrapped her arms around Lilly's waist, pushed her face into Lilly's stomach until she couldn't breathe.

Lilly ran a hand over the crown of Miley's head, stroking, soothing. Miley's mother used to do that whenever she woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. Miley wished she'd wake up from this one.

"It'll be all right," Lilly whispered.

Miley raised her head an inch. "No, it won't." She pulled back further so she could look Lilly in the eye. "I don't think I can do this."

"Yes, you can." Lilly's smile was lopsided. "You're Hannah Montana. You can do anything."

"Not this."

"Even this." She left _You have to_ unspoken.

"Lilly," Miley said, because she wasn't confused anymore. She'd figured it out the moment she'd realized she could have gotten Lilly killed, the moment she'd realized that this was real, that there was no crazy plan she could try or stupid costume she could wear to fix it, that she was never going to see Lilly again. She'd figured it out and this was the only chance she was going to get to say it. "I think I love you."

She leaned her head back against Lilly's stomach and they stayed that way, Lilly's hand in her hair, until all the seconds they had left ticked away and Karen came for Lilly.

"Sorry, girls," she said from the door, and she did sound sorry. "Time's up. Chloe's family is leaving for the safe house."

Lilly stood, took her hand from Miley's head. Miley sat up and grabbed it, hard, stopping Lilly from going more than a few steps away. She couldn't do this.

"Miley," Lilly said.

"Don't." She couldn't. It wasn't fair. No one could expect her to. She needed Lilly.

"Miley. Let me go."

She was doing it again, she was thinking about herself and her grief when this was about Lilly, her safety, her family. Miley loosened her grip and let Lilly slip free.

She couldn't look away as Lilly left, couldn't stand to miss even an instant of her, so when Lilly whirled around at the door and came back towards her at a run, Miley stood up so fast she upended her chair.

She didn't say anything, just grabbed Miley by the front of her shirt, hauled her forward, and kissed her harder than Miley had held to her hand. Miley's bottom lip split, blood sharp as pain in her mouth, on both their tongues.

And then it was over, Lilly was backing away, her eyes on Miley's until she reached Karen, who gently turned her around and ushered her from the room. The door closed and Miley licked her lip, hoped it never healed, because now she knew that Lilly loved her too.

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**I may have lied about the last part being up tomorrow night. I forgot I have to work late tomorrow, so it might be Tuesday instead.**


	3. Gravity

**I just realized this story is exactly like an episode of the show. I am laughing so hard at myself right now.**

**Also, I am up much later than I should be, so I will just say thank you so much for all of the comments. You guys are awesome.**

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_You are the earth beneath my feet,  
You are my gravity._

– My American Heart, _Tired & Uninspired_

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**Three months later**

Robby Ray shifted the bags of groceries to one arm and eased the door open. He could see Miley sitting at the kitchen table, mechanically eating a bowl of cereal and still in her pajamas even though it was after one. It was a nice day, still a little cool out, perfect beach weather, but he had no doubt that Miley wouldn't set foot outside, or notice the weather if she did.

The day she flew back from Des Moines, Robby Ray had gone to the airport angrier with her than he'd ever been. He'd meant to punish her, ground her, no phone, no allowance, nights and weekends full of yard work and chores, whatever else he could think of. But as soon as she had gotten off the plane he'd seen that there was nothing he could do to her. He'd hugged her instead, but she only stood there, and he'd realized slowly, heart sinking, that she had left the most important part of her in Iowa.

He could count on two fingers the number of times she'd been out of the house in the past few months for something other than school or Hannah. And she'd done those things grudgingly, finished the school year with sliding grades, carried out the Hannah obligations that had already been set but wouldn't let him book anything new.

It worried him. She wasn't spending every day in bed like that first week. She was eating, showering, functioning. But nothing beyond that. He knew that kind of loss, and how depression could flatten everything dull and distant. He'd had two kids depending on him and that had pulled him out of it, and in any other circumstances he would have been confident that he and Lilly and Oliver could have pulled Miley out of this, but in these ones he didn't know what to do other than give her time and support while she learned how to heal.

And now he had news that wouldn't help with that, but better she hear it from him than anyone else. She would have to start moving on with her life sometime; he couldn't protect her from the fact that the rest of the world was moving on with theirs already.

He set the groceries on the counter and began to unpack them. "Hey, Mile."

"Hi, daddy," was the listless reply.

"I heard something at the market today."

She made a noise, enough to show she'd heard but nothing that could be stretched to indicate any interest in what he was saying.

He put away the milk and stuck a couple packages of chicken in the freezer. Then he braced himself. "I heard someone's moving into the Truscotts' house."

The silence was worse than anything she could have said. He pulled a bunch of bananas and a box of cereal from the other bag, busying himself so he would have an excuse not to look at her. "I know it's hard, Miley." He knew. Lord, he knew. "But it's been three months." Three months was nothing. He knew that too, and how he'd hated people who pointed out how much time had passed, as though he could forget a second of it.

She still wasn't saying anything. "I'm sorry." No noise at all, not even her spoon against her bowl. She'd stopped eating. He wanted her to cry, to yell at him, to do something to let out the pain she was feeling instead of retreating into it. He wanted to hug her, comfort her, but he knew from experience she wouldn't accept it and would only stay stiff in his arms until he released her.

So he took a deep breath and kept on, hoping to draw a reaction and feeling horrible for it. "Their name's Sullivan. I heard they – "

There was a noise now, that of a chair scraping against the floor, and by the time he could turn around her chair was empty and the front door was gaping open, Miley gone.

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The sidewalk was rough under her feet but Miley didn't care, not even when one foot came down hard on a pebble she felt it all the way up the back of her leg. She was in her pajamas; didn't care about that, either.

_My name isn't really Lilly Truscott. It's Alyssa Sullivan._

Sullivan.

Miley pushed herself faster.

She shouldn't have left like that. Her father must be freaking out. She knew how worried he was about her, and she was sorry for that, for the sadness and shadows she could see flickering across his face when he looked at her. But her regret was an abstract thing. Everything was now.

Her dad seemed to understand. He kept telling her he did, kept saying how hard it was. But it wasn't hard. It wasn't _anything_. Sometimes, lying awake in bed at night, she thought maybe hard was what it seemed from the other side of this, once you'd climbed out of the well. But Miley didn't even know how to stop falling.

There was a moving van in the Truscott's driveway, a different company than the one that had come before. Two weeks after Lilly had left, a large moving van had shown up on the street outside her house and cleared everything out. But Miley and Oliver had beaten it, using the spare key to let themselves in. They'd taken everything of Lilly's except the furniture. Miley had most of it in her room, which was where she preferred to spend her time now.

Miley skirted the van, ignoring the surprised glances of the movers in the midst of unloading the Truscotts' dining room table. She ran straight through the open door and almost crashed into Heather, who was wrestling an end table closer to the couch.

"Oh, Miley," Heather said when she'd recovered. "I was wondering when we'd see you." Miley could only look at her wildly. Where was Lilly? Heather nodded her head at the stairs. "She's in her room."

Miley honestly couldn't remember going up them, but then she was standing in the door to Lilly's room, so she must have. Lilly was making up her bed, her back to Miley, but before Miley could even gather up breath enough to say anything Lilly turned around and saw her.

Miley couldn't move and Lilly didn't. Miley couldn't dare to even breathe, in case Lilly disappeared when she did.

"Hi," Lilly said finally, after so long that Miley felt she'd aged twenty years since she left her kitchen to come here.

Miley took a step forward, then stopped, unsure. She wanted to rush across the room and grab Lilly, hug her, kiss her. But the Truscotts – the Sullivans had been back a while, long enough for Lilly's bed and dresser to be brought up, long enough for Miley's dad to hear about them moving in, and Lilly hadn't come or called. What if Miley had been imagining things when Lilly kissed her? What if Lilly hadn't meant 'I love you' with it, only 'Goodbye'?

"You're back?" Miley said, keeping herself by the door, a sudden storm of emotion flooding her, hope and fear and love, all of those, when she had gotten so used to their absence. Some of it spilled out of her mouth in a nervous babble before she could stop it. "I mean, you're moving in – how – why – I thought you couldn't – what happened?"

Lilly stared at her, blanket dangling from her hands down to the floor. "You didn't hear about it? It was all over the news a few months ago."

The news? Miley had mostly forgotten a world existed outside her bedroom. But she didn't want to admit that to Lilly. "No. Hear what?"

"Deane got killed."

"What?" Something like that really would have been all over the news. Even if Miley hadn't seen it, her dad must have, and probably Oliver. Why hadn't they told her?

Because...because they wouldn't have known it had anything to do with Lilly. She hadn't told them anything about what happened in Iowa, nothing she'd learned or done. She hadn't been able to. And the Marshals would have kept Lilly's dad out of the story. "What happened?" she asked.

"I guess he'd been trying to make a deal," Lilly said. "He was naming names, giving up evidence against some people he used to work with. They didn't like that, so they waited and got him when he was being brought to the courthouse the first day of the trial. He got rushed to the hospital, but the Marshals told us he bled out before he even got there. They shot him five times."

"Wow." Miley was almost glad she hadn't known. She would have spent the past few months worrying even more over Lilly, wondering if Heather had somehow convinced the Marshals to let her go to the trial, if she'd taken Lilly with her, if Lilly had been hurt. Or if her dad... "Your dad, was he...?"

"No. He wasn't there. He would have been the next day, but not that one."

So close. What if he'd been there? What if he'd been going into the courthouse at the same time? "God, Lilly, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. He wasn't there."

"I know, I just wish..." That none of this had ever happened, that Lilly and her family had never been in danger? Too late for that. And where would Lilly be if none of this had happened? Where would Miley be? Where were they now? "But you're back, right? For good?"

"Yeah." Lilly put the blanket down and sat on the bed, and Miley shifted on her feet, uncomfortably aware of the distance between them. It felt awkward to be consciously keeping herself from Lilly, strained. They'd never been much for personal space around each other. But she didn't know how Lilly felt and didn't want to misstep, to add anything more to what Lilly already had to deal with.

"It took forever for the Marshals to decide that it was safe. They were worried there might still be someone out there who would come after us. But Deane's dead and the people who used to work for him are the ones who killed him. Even if someone was still loyal to Deane and wanted revenge, they'd go after those guys. No one cares about us anymore, especially since Dad didn't even get to testify again."

"So they said you could come back?"

Lilly nodded. "They said we could go wherever we wanted, even back to Baltimore. But our lives are here now. Mom and Dad's work, Sam's school, you and Oliver. Ian's never really known anywhere else. So we came back. We're not even in the Program anymore."

"Is that why you're the Sullivans now?"

"Yeah."

Miley took a step towards her, paused, fidgeted. "Does that mean I have to get used to calling you Alyssa?" She didn't really care. She'd call Lilly whatever Lilly wanted, be whatever Lilly wanted, even if it was only friends, just as long as Lilly stayed.

"No," Lilly said. "I'm keeping Lilly. Lilly Sullivan. Because all the important things in my life happened while I was Lilly." She took a breath, pulled the blanket halfway in her lap and stared down at it. "Most of them, anyway. There was one thing that happened to me while I was Chloe that was pretty important."

"There – there was?" Miley took another step forward but wouldn't let herself hope. Maybe Lilly meant Deane dying, or...

"I don't know," Lilly said, keeping her eyes on the blanket. "You tell me."

Oh. Lilly wouldn't look at her, and Miley realized that Lilly must be worried about the same thing she was, that she thought maybe Miley had only meant what she'd said because of the circumstances, because they would never see each other again and so wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of saying it. She was trying to let Miley off the hook, give her a way out. As if Miley wanted one.

"There was."

Lilly glanced up. "Yeah?" she asked shyly.

"Yeah," Miley said, and then they were grinning at each other like idiots and Miley's face felt stretched out and weird because she hadn't had a reason to smile like this since Lilly left.

Lilly pushed the blanket from her lap and came across the room, but she stopped a foot away and Miley could see uncertainty still wavering in her eyes, like maybe she thought something had changed since Iowa, or like the past three months apart had made them strangers to each other. But that would never happen.

Miley didn't hesitate, just stepped forward once more and pulled Lilly to her, much more gently than Lilly had done, and kissed her softly, slowly. Taking her time.

They kept their foreheads together after and stood in each other's arms, breathing the same air, Miley's world righting itself, steadying.

"My dad's probably going crazy," she said much, much later, lifting her head. She didn't know how long she'd been gone. "As soon as he said people named Sullivan were moving in here, I ran out without even stopping to tell him anything."

"Your dad told you?"

"He heard about you moving in but he didn't know it was you."

"I'm sorry," Lilly said. "I wanted to call as soon as we got back, but we don't have phones yet. And I would have come to see you, but my mom's been so busy and she won't let me leave the house by myself. She's still kind of...you know."

She could guess. "Yeah." Miley didn't blame her. She didn't ever want to let Lilly out of her sight again either. "But do you think, if she went with us, we could go back to my house long enough to talk to my dad? And you could get your stuff. I have it in my room."

Lilly laughed. "I wondered why the Marshals kept claiming they didn't have it. I thought they'd just started getting rid of our stuff and were trying to cover it up."

"Nope. Oliver and I got to it first."

"Thanks." Lilly stepped back a little. "We should go find my mom. She'll take us once she finds out your dad doesn't know you're here."

"Okay." Neither of them moved towards the door.

"Miley?" Lilly said nervously. "I don't know if you...I mean, my parents know, but we don't have to tell your dad. About us. If you don't want to."

Miley wrapped her fingers around Lilly's. Lilly's parents knew? What had happened after they left Iowa? What had the last three months been for Lilly? She would have to find out later. There would be time later, now that it existed. "Of course we'll tell him. I think he knows already, anyway. I wasn't very good about hiding how much I missed you."

Lilly's face went solemn. She plucked at Miley's free hand with her sleeve. "Is that why you're in pajamas in the middle of the afternoon?"

Miley thought about what the last three months had been for her and tugged Lilly forward into a tight, fierce embrace. "Don't ever leave again," she whispered.

Lilly melted against her, arms around Miley's waist. "I won't. And Miley?"

"What?"

"I love you, too."

Miley kissed her again. She was on the other side now, out of the well. Lilly had gotten her there, Lilly would keep her there. Miley let the kiss end, and when she spoke she didn't know if she was talking to Lilly or herself. "Welcome home."

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**You know what's really bad? I kind of want to write another fic based off this premise that's also a crossover with **_**The Haunting Hour**_**, where Cassie is Lilly's new identity and Jake is there because it's when he's trying to figure out how to be normal, and then Miley comes but the ending is angsty instead of happy like this one. **

**...Someone want to talk me out of that, plz?**

**I think I'll do the flipside for Amiss next, probably starting mid-week next week.**


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